What is Swine Flu? A strain of the flu virus that humans suffer from and historically has only affected pigs by and large though the odd infection among the human population has occurred from time to time.

It is a respiratory illness and caused by the strain of the influenza virus known as H1N1.

Forecast to get worse as the various pronouncements from the World Health Organisation (WHO) have indicated it started out as primarily non human but has now become wholly human in the nature of spread and infection.

The H1NI Virus is similar to the seasonal version of Influenza that affects humans in large amounts every year but is normally harmless and only rarely lethal.

Swine Flu has a set of symptoms that are all very similar to those of normal flu and they include the following:

Fever Fatigue Lack of Appetite Coughing Sore Throat Pain in Muscles and Joints Headache and Chills

Other associated gastric symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhoea have also been report ed by some.

The key questions that most people want answers to are, how can I avoid catching it and what do I do if I believe I am suffering from it?

You catch in the same way as conventional more common flu and these the most common of these include

1.    From person to person by coughing or sneezing 2.    From touching an object such as a door handle which has a virus on it from someone infected with flu.

We must stress here most strongly that there is no risk of picking up Swine Flu from correctly prepared and processed Pork meat or products.Food is not a way of transmitting Swine Flu.

General hygiene can help tremendously in all areas of helping to reduce the transmission of all viruses, including swine flu.|It goes without saying that common and correct adherence to the principles of general hygiene go along way to the prevention of transmission of all viruses including Swine Flu.} These include:

1.    Covering your nose and mouth when it comes to sneezing or coughing and using a tissue when ever possible.

2.    Disposing of dirty tissues promptly and carefully.

3.    Maintaining good basic hygiene, for example washing hands frequently with soap and water to reduce the spread of the virus from your hands to your face or to other people.

4.    Using a normal cleaning product to clean all hard surfaces (such as door handles and desktops) regularly.

If you think that you might have caught the H1N1 strain Swine Flu then the first thing you should do is check your symptoms with your local healthcare practitioner or professional and most organisations nowadays have web sites or best practice guidance available. If you feel confident that you have caught Swine Flu then a call to the same healthcare practitioner is extremely vital and they will arrange for the delivery of the anti virals that are now in common use to treat this flu.

One thing you should not do is to take the anti virals in advance of a diagnosis or in the mistaken belief that you might be able to avoid the disease. There is a big difference between being immunised correctly for flu and taking medication incorrectly prescribed. This is not wise and should never be counselled.